Home » Articles and Reviews by 'Jon Mundy'
Why Deus Ex GO is a better mobile game than Deus Ex: The Fall
Deus Ex GO is out now, and it's nothing like Deus Ex: The Fall or, by extension, the Deus Ex series it's spun off from. But it's undoubtedly the better mobile game. Starting out life on PC before working their way to consoles, the Deus Ex games are complex first person actions games that tend to offer you multiple routes to success through their dystopian sci-fi worlds. 2013's Deus Ex: The Fall attempted to bring that formula over to mobile, with a surprising degree of success. It looked (and still looks) stunning, and managed to nail the key elements of the full Deus Ex: Human Revolution game, right down to the first person perspective. All in all, it's a highly entertaining game and sti…
Deus Ex GORuins Ahead - Crossy Road meets Monument Valley?
Crossy Road caused a massive splash when it landed in 2014, leading to a whole raft of (generally inferior) imitators. Ruins Ahead presents just enough of a spin on proceedings to make for an interesting alternative. And we mean that last bit quite literally. You're still tapping to make your chunky little hero scoot forward in a blocky, isometric world. By here you're doing so on a precariously suspended path. Swipe left or right and you won't hop to your doom, but will rotate the path itself, opening up a new route. This gives the game the slightest hint of puzzliness. It's a more considered, less frantic game than Crossy Road, which may well appeal more to certain easily-harried types.…
Hooked on Mr Robot? Then you have to download the new Mr. Robot:1.51exfiltrati0n game
Have you been watching season two of Mr. Robot? Perhaps you're still catching up with the brilliant first season. Or maybe the recent hype means you're just starting out with Sam Esmail's series, which is currently available to stream on Amazon Video. If so, you're in for a treat. Whatever your level of familiarity with Mr. Robot, you'll want to pay attention to Mr. Robot:1.51exfiltrati0n, a new iOS and Android game from Night School Studio and Telltale Games. Yes, that Telltale Games - the studio behind a series of excellent adventure games utilising popular IP like Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead. Interested? Can you hack it? If you've ever seen an episode of Mr. Robot, of co…
Bargain iOS game deal of the day: Little Galaxy goes free
Little Galaxy is currently available for free on iOS. If you haven't played this addictive arcade gem yet, now is the perfect time to make the jump. The iOS App Store is brimming over with high quality games, with prices that often fluctuate wildly. It can be hard to grab all of the bargain offers that come your way, which is why we'll step in from time to time to highlight the deals that might not get the exposure they deserve. Take Little Galaxy (currently going by the name Little Galaxy Family), for example. It's been out for three years, which is an absolute age in the world of iOS games. Yet it remains an extremely fresh and attractive casual arcade game. One giant leap for boykind…
Diffission and 5 more educational games that are actually fun to play
To many kids, education is not fun. Games are fun. So when you mention the term 'educational games,' it can yield a mixed response. That's not helped by the number of woeful educational games that have been released over the years, which often make only a token attempt at instilling actual fun into proceedings. It needn't be this way, though, as iOS games such as the newly released Diffission go to show. This is a slick puzzler in its own right, with polished presentation that reminds us of Splice and a slice-to-divide premise that recalls classic puzzler Slice It. And yet at heart it's teaching players all about fractions. There's even an EDU version to help teachers monitor their st…
Ketchapp Summer Sports is the perfect between-events snack for the Olympic Games Rio 2016
There's still plenty of exciting action left in the Rio 2016 Olympics, and we reckon we've found the perfect game to fill the gaps in between events: Ketchapp Summer Sports. We're ten days into the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, and we've already seen some stunning performances in the pool, on the tennis court, and for the first time in more than a century, on the golf course. Of course, it's the track and field events that are perhaps the most iconic of the lot. We've already witnessed Usain Bolt making history with his fourth consecutive 100m gold, and watched in exhausted awe as Jessica Ennis-Hill and Nafissatou Thiam battled for gold in the heptathlon. Fortunately there's plenty left to g…
Can't find new Pokemon in Pokemon GO? Check out these Pokemon tracking apps
It's been around a month since Pokemon GO first rolled out, people still seem to be obsessed with the game. We're guessing there are plenty who are struggling to locate fresh Pokemon now, which might mean they need a helping hand. The trouble is, Niantic have hit Pokemon GO players with a bit of a double whammy. Not only did they respond to the broken Pokemon tracking feature by removing it altogether, but they also banned access to their data for a number of reliable third party tracking tools, such as PokeVision. There are still some Pokemon tracking tools out there, though they're of varying quality and usefulness. Here's a run-down of four of them. We should note that none of these ap…
Championship Manager 17 and 4 other iOS games for wannabe Mourinhos
In a tactical move that would make Jose Mourinho proud, Championship Manager 17 has hit the App Store just ahead of the start of the new Premier League season. It joins an increasingly busy football management game league on the App Store. In fact, with such big hitters as Football Manager and PES Club Manager already on there, it's a management face-off worthy of this year's Jose vs Pep vs Conte vs Klopp. So, which football management game is the favourite for the title? Let's take a look at the contenders. Championship Manager 17 As already stated, Championship Manager 17 is the newest contender for the football management game title. It's got the illustrious name, all the proper tea…
Tinder, Disasterpeace, and epic binary choices - Why Reigns should be your next iOS game
What do infamous hook-up app Tinder, indie gaming great Fez, and classic choose-your-own-adventure games have in common? They're all reference points that have been named in conjunction with an intriguing new iOS game called Reigns. Developer Nerial has produced something special in Reigns - a genuinely fresh mobile adventure game that wouldn't feel as good on any other format. Here's why we think you should be playing it. Tindering your assignation At the heart of Reigns (download here) is a simple binary decisions system. As the young ruler of a medieval fantasy kingdom, you're fed a succession of decisions, each one generally corresponding to a year of your reign, with two possible cho…
Journey Below - 7 classic retro iOS games from Ravenous Games
Journey Below hits the App Store this week, and its retro-arcade trappings may not stand out a mile from the iOS crowd. However, one look at the developer should convince you to take a closer look. Ravenous Games has been one of the most prolific and consistent iOS game developers since the App Store first launched. It has a discernible house style which is informed by an obvious love of the 8-bit and 16-bit era. Journey Below is a typical Ravenous Games effort in many ways, but it offers a spin on the auto-runner that we haven't seen from the studio before. If you liked Downwell (and who didn't?), you'll recognise some of the elements here. Here are seven reasons why Ravenous Games has b…
Well Halo there - Why Midnight Star: Renegade is the most exciting iOS game of the week
It's been a strong week for blockbuster iOS games, but one game stands out as being particularly exciting: Midnight Star: Renegade. In a week that sees the latest effort from Ravenous Games (Journey Below) hitting the App Store alongside the console-like splendour of Eisenhorn: Xenos, it takes a special game to divert our attention. And yet that's just what Midnight Star: Renegade has managed to do. So what's so special (potentially, at least) about Midnight Star: Renegade? Allow us to explain. It's got Halo pedigree Industrial Toys CEO Alex Seropian was a co-founder of Bungie - the developer behind Halo, aka one of the finest FPS franchises in history. So you see, when we talk about Mi…
Prepare for the Premier League 2016/2017 season with these apps
We're nearly there. This weekend sees the start of the new English Premier League football season, and it's shaping up to be an absolute barnstormer. If last season's Leicester win took everyone by surprise, then this season could see the big teams striking back with a vengeance. Not only do we have three of the world's best managers taking new positions - Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, Chelsea's Antonio Conte, and Jose Mourinho at Manchester United - but the latter has signed the most expensive and sought-after player in the world in Paul Pogba. It's the biggest show in football, and the Premier League 2016/2017 season could be the best year. With that in mind, here are a few apps tha…
Eisenhorn: Xenos - 6 worthy Warhammer 40k games on iOS
With today's launch of Eisenhorn: Xenos onto the App Store, it's worth reflecting upon the better iOS games set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. There are quite a lot of them. Eisenhorn: Xenos is a super-slick Unreal Engine-powered third person action game with some top notch vocal work from Mark Strong. It really is blockbuster stuff. What's great to see when looking around the iOS Warhammer 40k stable, however, is the sheer variety of content. Sure, it might all have a similar grim-dark sci-fi dystopian tone - that's pretty much a pre-requisite - but there are a number of distinct genres represented. And represented well, at that. Warhammer 40,000: Freeblade Freeblade isn't exactly…
Pokemon GO update - Fix the tracking already, Niantic!
Niantic has released another update for Pokemon GO, but it still doesn't seem to have fixed the main problem with the free-to-play smash hit - tracking. Pokemon GO has been a runaway hit, racking up $200 million for Niantic in just a month. Which is pretty good going when you consider it's been broken from day one. Now, we're not the kind of people to rant and rave over the perceived flaws and missing features of a free-to-play mobile game - particularly when that game has brought us many hours of pleasure. But the fact that a core component of Pokemon GO is fundamentally non-operational so long after the game's release leaves us rubbing our heads like a Psyduck. Pokemon GO shipped with…
Get your No Man's Sky fix on the go - 6 epic iOS space games
One of the most eagerly anticipated and crazily ambitious games of recent times, No Man's Sky, is finally out this week. The only trouble is, you'll need a PS4 to play it. It's an epic sci-fi first-person exploration game that takes in a whole randomly generated galaxy. You can explore planets, engage in space-bound dogfights, become a wealthy trader - the options are bewildering. Fortunately, there are a fair few games on the App Store that boast many of No Man's Sky's qualities. Maybe not all in the same package, and certainly not at the same scale. But download each of these six games and you'll have a pretty accomplished composite of Hello Games's latest effort. Galaxy on Fire 2 Ga…
